president obama essentially today said he's not willing to play that game. noting what happened in 2011 with the u.s. hurting its credit rating, just the political particular sis that brought on and said, look, we have been there. i'm not going to do that again. >> not to mention the white house and the president still, of course, would hold a strong hand even if the bush tax cuts were dealt with which you mentioned earlier. >> there are a few cards that the white house would be able to play even if republicans said, look, we'll meet your demands and pass the extension on tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less and still undissolved fights of the estate tax and fight with the actual tax rates would be in some type of tax reform and as well as how much willingness there would be from the white house and democrats on entitlement. the white house and democrats would have a type of say in that and still have a leverage and make no mistake. republicans with more leverage going in to february or march getting rid of this tax cut situation that's really putçó